3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away

Every week, I spotlight companies that lapped their profit targets. Baffling Wall Street's pros can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies have more in the tank than analysts figured; capital appreciation often follows. Let's see who humbled the prognosticators this past week.

For starters, there's Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU  ) . The accounting-software maker made sure that its own beancounters earned their keep. The home of the popular TurboTax and QuickBooks programs earned $1.13 per share for its fiscal third quarter (before one-time charges). That comfortably beat the $1.08-per-share showing the market expected.

Focus Media (Nasdaq: FMCN  ) was also sitting pretty. The Chinese giant in display advertising -- a network of outdoor LED billboards, poster frames in elevators, and tens of thousands of television monitors in pedestrian-friendly places -- earned the U.S. equivalent of $0.21 a share in its latest quarter, topping the $0.19 per ADS the pros predicted.

Rediff.com (Nasdaq: REDF  ) was another topper. The company behind one of India's most popular websites saw earnings more than triple, to $0.07 a share. You can't fault Wall Street for not trying. Analysts figured that earnings would more than double, to $0.05 per share, but they still fell short.

Keep watching the companies that lap expectations. Over time, it can be a profitable experience for investors, as the market rewards the overachievers. That's the kind of surprise we look for in the Rule Breakers newsletter service. Want in? Check out a 30-day trial subscription.

Either way, come back next Monday to learn about more stocks that blew the market away.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of toppers. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.